Few takers for peripheral hospitals

Ina development that has far reaching implications for patients and medical students of peripheral hospitals run by Gujarat Medical and Education Research Society (GMERS), only 46% of doctors given appointment have accepted the offers. So much so that, the entire recruitment process will now be undertaken in January and may likely spill into the next academic year.

Of the 88 appointment letters given to doctors in October this year, only 41doctors accepted the positions and joined a GMERS peripheral hospital.

Out of 88 initial letters, 11doctors refused in October itself. This left the ball in the court of 77 doctors in November. Of these, only 9 of 14 Professors, 22 of 45 Associate Professors and 10 of 18 Assistant Professors accepted positions at GMERS.

What officials say

Dr Bipin Nayak, Deputy CEO of GMERS said, “Many of the doctors who refused to join are currently working in government hospitals, but they do not want postings in peripheral hospitals due to lack of city-like services there. Also, they may fear losing out on opportunities in bigger hospitals in major centres.”

Speaking on the recruitment process having to be repeated, Dr Nayak said, “We are disappointed by the outcome of this recruitment, but we will be issuing a new advertisement for recruitment within two weeks and hold fresh interviews. We hope to not have delays this time.”

Dr Nitin Vora, President of Gujarat Medical Council, said, “Yes, it's true that doctors do not want to go to peripheral hospitals, but I believe the times are changing.

The mindset to put duty before career advancement is rising and I feel that senior professors should lead this change by going to such peripheral hospitals and set an example. I'm sure others will follow suit in due course.”

Even major cities await doctors

Even as three GMERS medical colleges in major cities – GMERS Sola in Ahmedabad, GMERS Gandhinagar and GMERS Gotri in Vadodara – will soon complete 9, 7 and 9 years respectively of offering MBBS course, they are unable to apply for post-graduation recognition due to lack of doctorscum-teachers.

Situation worse elsewhere

The situation is much worse in smaller centres where doctors are unwilling to serve due poor career prospects and lack of access to city-like facilities.

Asenior doctor at a GMERS hospital said, “Nobody wants to go to GMERS hospitals in Junagadh, Himmatnagar (Sabarkantha), Vadnagar (Mehsana) and Dharpur (Patan). The doctors would much prefer going to government hospitals or to private hospitals in bigger cities.”

The fact that these four GMERS hospitals are the biggest ones in their respective districts does not seem to attract doctors. While GMERS Junagadh is the biggest medical centre for population of 27.43 lakh, GMERS Himmatnagar is supposed to cater to 24.29 lakh people, GMERS Vadnagar to 20.35 lakh and GMERS Dharpur to 13.44 lakh people.

Amedical teacher told Mirror, “As major and complicated operations are often not carried out in these hospitals either due to lack of staff, infrastructure or medical equipment, patients in Saurashtra have to travel to Rajkot Civil Hospital and those in the rest of Gujarat have to travel to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to get treatment.

For an aspiring doctor, who must learn to deal with any medical complication, these hospitals have nothing to offer.”

Speaking on the issue, Dr PA Rathod, Dean of GMERS Junagadh said, “Right now, we have all our departments full but that only happened due to the MCI inspection. Now that the inspection is over, many doctors will go back on transfers to their parent hospitals. We will be left with empty departments again as even doctors coming out of Junagadh do not want to serve here.”

Red tape delayed recruitment by four monthsGMERS took more than seven months from the date of interviews to give out appointment letters. Dr Nayak commented, “Soon after the interviews, we got 13 complaints from candidates saying that the eligibility criteria were confusing and so we had to send them to the government for guidance. This came only in June, which is how we lost four months.

Many doctors who refused to join are currently working in government hospitals, but they do not want postings in peripheral hospitals due to lack of city-like services there

Dr Bipin Nayak, Deputy CEO, GMERS

The mindset to put duty before career is rising. Senior professors should lead change by going to peripheral hospitals and set an example. I'm sure others will follow suit